Lice and nit removal comb

ABSTRACT

A comb for removing lice and nits from animal and/or human hair is provided with two spaced apart rows of teeth, the teeth in each row being successively adjacent to and in close proximity to one another with tapered distal ends, respectively, the longitudinal centerlines of the teeth of one row being respectively aligned with the longitudinal centerlines of spaces between the teeth of the other row, and with the teeth of one row being longer than the teeth of the other row.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related generally to products for personalgrooming and hygiene, and more particularly to combs for removing liceand nits from the hair and scalp of an affected individual.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are small parasitic insects, whichhave evolved to live and thrive on the scalp and neck hairs of theirhuman host. The external parasitic insects are often difficult toeradicate, especially in poverty stricken areas, and present a healthproblem to those afflicted. Head lice can also afflict people indeveloped areas such as in schools where people are in constant closecontact. Those afflicted with head lice have to undergo some form oftreatment or intervention for relief. One form of intervention usesinsecticides or pesticides, which have been generally found to beeffective and safe, if handled properly. The insecticide or pesticide isusually periodically applied to the hair and scalp of the afflictedindividual to kill the head lice. Recently, it has been found thatcertain head lice strains have developed resistance against some of themore popular insecticides or pesticides currently available in themarket.

In addition to insecticides or pesticides, mechanical means have alsobeen employed in the treatment of head lice. Such mechanical meansfunction by physically removing head lice and nits from the hair andscalp and can be effectively implemented alone or in combination withthe insecticide or pesticide treatment. One mechanical means found to beeffective is the lice and nit comb, which is a toothed instrumentadapted for confining hair and sifting out the lice and nits. Thetypical lice and nit comb includes a plurality of spaced apart teetharranged in a single row. The space between adjacent teeth is typicallydiminutive to permit the strands of hair to pass through as the comb isdrawn, but prevent head lice and nits from passing through the space. Inthis manner, lice and nits present on the hair strands are effectivelyscraped off as the comb moves along the length of the hair.

Ideally, in order to ensure that the lice and nits are caught by thecomb, the entire outer surface of the hair strands are scraped andcleaned to prevent the lice and nits from avoiding the scraping action.However, the adjacent parallel teeth of the lice and nit comb forms openended portions which are not able to scrape certain portions of the hairstrands occupied therebetween. These limitations have made prior artlice and nit combs more time consuming and inconvenient to use, lesseffective in sifting and removing lice and nits from hair, anddiminished in their ability to accommodate all hair types, thickness andvolume.

Accordingly, there is a need for a lice and nit removal comb capable ofcaptively and circumferentially grasping around strands of hair forenhanced scraping and cleaning action to entrap and remove lice and nitspresent as the device is drawn along the length of the grasped hair. Inthis manner, any lice and/or nit present in the hair is efficiently andeffectively sifted and removed therefrom. There is a further need for alice and nit removal device designed to accommodate various hair types,thickness, volume and curliness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a lice and nit removal comb thatincludes a handle having an upper portion for gripping the comb, and alower portion from which two rows of equally spaced teeth protrudetherefrom. The two rows of teeth are spaced apart and in parallel withone another, whereby the centerlines of each of the teeth in one row arealigned directly with the centerlines of the spaces between the teeth ofthe opposing row. Each of the teeth are tapered at their distal ends. Inthe preferred embodiment, the front row of teeth are longer than theback row of teeth. In the front row of teeth, each of the teeth are ofthe same length, and are successively adjacent and in close proximity toone another. Similarly, the teeth in the back row are each of the samelength, and are successively adjacent and in close proximity to oneanother. In use of the present comb, the front teeth are used toinitially scoop up the hair, whereby as the comb is moved the scooped-uphair also goes to the back row or shorter teeth, thereby creating atortuous or circuitous path for each hair to pass through, effectivelycausing the hairs to go around corners, whereby lice or nits are trappedwithin the teeth of the comb as the hairs are scraped against the teeth.

In one embodiment of the invention, the teeth consist of stainlesssteel, and the handle is made of an appropriate or suitable plasticmaterial, such as ABS, or polypropylene, for example, or other suitableplastic material. In the embodiment where the handle is made of plasticmaterial, the teeth are molded or embedded into the plastic material ofthe handle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention are described in detail below withreference to the drawings, in which like items are identified by thesame reference designation, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of the lice and nit removal comb lookingtoward the back and left side thereof at an angle, for one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a back elevational view of the comb of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a right side elevational view of the comb of FIG. 1, the leftside elevational view being a mirror image thereof;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the comb of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal axis ofthe comb of FIG. 2 viewed from the left side thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a comb 2 for removing lice and nitspresent in the hair and/or the scalp of a warm-blooded animal includinghumans. As shown in FIGS. 1 through 5, the comb 2 includes a pluralityof short nodular projections or protuberances 4 for in an oval area 6 onthe front of the handle 8 and a similar oval area including a pluralityof short nodular projections or protuberances 4 in an upper portion ofthe back of the comb 8. The short nodular projections or protuberances 4as positioned on the front and back of the handle 8 provide a non-slipgripping surface for one to readily manipulate the comb during use.

The comb 2 also includes a protruding rectangular pad 16 on the lowerfront portion of the handle 8. A similar protruding rectangular pad 18is provided on the lower back portion of the handle 8. Note also thatthe oval area 6 protrudes slightly away from the main portion of thefront of the handle 8, as does the oval portion 10 on the back of thehandle 8.

As clearly shown in FIGS. 1 through 5, the comb includes extending outand away from the bottom of body or handle 8 a plurality of front teeth12 which are successively adjacent to one another in close proximity,with all lying in the same plane. As shown, the distal ends of the teeth12 are tapered. A back row of a plurality of teeth 14 also extend awayfrom the bottom of the handle 8, are successively adjacent to and inclose proximity to one another, and all lie in the same plane. The frontrow of teeth 12 are spaced away from the back row of teeth 14. In thepreferred embodiment of the invention, the handle consists of plasticmaterial such as ABS, polypropylene, or other suitable plastic material.However, the handle 8 can be made of any other suitable material. Also,in the preferred embodiment, the teeth consist of stainless steelmaterial, but alternatively can be made from any other suitablematerial. Accordingly, the present comb invention is not limited to aplastic handle 8, or stainless steel teeth 12 and 14.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, thirty six of the longerteeth 12 are included, and thirty five of the shorter teeth 14 areincluded. The diameter of each tooth 12, 14 is about 0.046 inch exceptfor the distal tapered end portions thereof, respectfully. For the teeth12 of the front row, and the teeth 14 of the back row, in the preferredembodiment the center-to-center distance between adjacent ones of theseteeth is about 0.051 inch and the gap between adjacent teeth is about0.005 inch. In the preferred embodiment, the spacing or gap between therespective centerlines of the successively adjacent teeth 12 of thefront row, and between the successively adjacent teeth 14 of the backrow is about 0.107 inch. The total width of the plurality of the teeth12 in front of the comb is about 1.831 inches in the preferredembodiment. The exposed length of each one of the teeth 12 is about 1.47inches, with the length of the shorter teeth 14 being one-quarter inchshorter. The length of the proximal ends of each one of the teeth 12 and14 molded into or embedded within the handle 8 is about 0.432 inch. Themaximum width of the handle 8 is about 0.373 inch, and the areas ofwidth of nominal dimension are each about 0.27 inch. All of theaforesaid dimensions are for the preferred embodiment of the invention,and are not meant to be limiting.

The longitudinal center axis of the plurality of front teeth 12 areoffset from the plurality of back teeth 14. More specifically, the backrow of teeth 14 are aligned to provide that the longitudinal centralaxis of each of the teeth 14 are aligned directly with the longitudinalcenterlines of the gap or spaces between the teeth 12 of the front rowof teeth. The offset between the front row of teeth 12 and the back rowof teeth 14 can readily be seen in the bottom plan view of FIG. 7. Byvirtue of this offset alignment between the teeth 12 and the teeth 14,as the teeth of the comb 2 are passed through the hair of the user, withthe front row of the teeth 12 being used to first contact and scoop uphairs therebetween, the hairs are forced to be bent into right anglesaround the teeth 12 and 14. Otherwise, the offset alignment creates atortuous or circuitous path for each hair to pass through, literallymaking the hair go around corners, thereby trapping any lice or nits inthe process of scraping the hairs along the offset teeth 12 and 14. Thisrepresents a major advantage relative to lice combs of the prior art.

Although various embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed, they are not meant to be limiting. Those of skill in the artmay recognize certain modifications to these embodiments, whichmodifications are meant to be covered by the spirit and scope of theappended claims. For example, the present lice comb has been describedabove as including two spaced apart rows of teeth 12 and 14,respectively, whereas an extension of the invention can include morethan two spaced apart rows of teeth of unequal length to the extentpractical. Also, although less preferred, the lengths of the teeth 12and 14 can be of equal length, or even additional rows of teeth can beof equal length.

1. A comb for removing lice and nits from animal and/or human hair,comprising: a handle having a top, bottom, front face, and back face; aplurality of elongated first teeth each having a proximal end, and adistal end, the proximal ends of said first teeth being secured into anedge portion of the bottom of said handle proximate the said front face,said first teeth being successively adjacent and spaced apart in closeproximity to one another in the same plane to form a row thereof; aplurality of elongated second teeth each having a proximal end, and adistal end, the proximal ends of said second teeth being secured into anedge portion of the bottom of said handle proximate said back face, saidsecond teeth being successively adjacent and spaced apart in closeproximity to one another in a common plane to form a row thereof; saidrow of first teeth being parallel to and spaced apart from said row ofsecond teeth; and said first teeth being at least as long as said secondteeth.
 2. The comb of claim 1, wherein the distal ends of each one ofsaid plurality of first and second teeth are tapered.
 3. The comb ofclaim 1, wherein said plurality of first teeth consist of 36 teeth, andsaid plurality of second teeth consist of 35 teeth.
 4. The comb of claim1, wherein said plurality of first and second teeth each consist ofstainless steel.
 5. The comb of claim 1, wherein the rows of successiveteeth of said plurality of first and second teeth, respectively, aredisplaced from one another, thereby providing that no one of saidplurality of first teeth are in direct opposition to any one of saidplurality of second teeth.
 6. The comb of claim 1, wherein thelongitudinal centerlines teeth of the rows of said plurality of firstteeth are aligned directly with the longitudinal centerlines of thespaces between the teeth of the row of said plurality of second teeth.7. The comb of claim 1, further including means for positioning theteeth of said plurality of first and second teeth to provide a tortuousor circuitous path for hairs to pass through, for enhancing the teethscraping the hairs to remove lice and nits therefrom and trap themwithin said comb.
 8. The comb of claim 7, wherein said positioning meansincludes aligning the longitudinal centerlines of the teeth of one ofsaid rows of said plurality of first and second teeth with thelongitudinal centerlines of the spaces between the teeth of the other ofsaid rows.
 9. The comb of claim 1, wherein said handle consists ofplastic material.
 10. The comb of claim 9, wherein said plastic materialis selected from the group consisting of ABS, and polypropylene.
 11. Thecomb of claim 1, wherein said handle further includes a plurality ofnodular projections on portions of its said front and back faces. 12.The comb of claim 1, wherein said handle is configured to have curvededge portions about its said top, front, and back faces.
 13. The comb ofclaim 1, wherein said plurality of first and second teeth have circularcross-sections along their lengths.
 14. The comb of claim 1, wherein thelength of said plurality of first teeth extending from said handle isabout 1.47 inches, and the length of said plurality of second teethextending from said handle is about 1.22 inches.
 15. The comb of claim1, wherein the gap or spaces between successive ones of said pluralityof first teeth, and successive ones of said plurality of second teeth,is about 0.005 inch.
 16. The comb of claim 1, wherein the spaces betweenthe rows of said plurality of first and second teeth is about 0.107inch.
 17. The comb of claim 14, wherein the total exposed length of saidplurality of first teeth is about 1.47 inches, and of said plurality ofsecond teeth is about 1.22 inches.
 18. The comb of claim 1, wherein saidfirst teeth are longer than said second teeth.
 19. A method forproducing a comb for removing lice and nits from animal and/or humanhair, comprising the steps of: securing a row of a plurality of firstteeth to a bottom portion of a handle of said comb; securing a row of aplurality of second teeth to the bottom portion of said handle spacedapart from said row of a plurality of first teeth; making said pluralityof first teeth at least as long as said plurality of second teeth;spacing apart in close proximity to one another the successive teeth insaid row of first teeth; spacing apart in close proximity to one anotherthe successive teeth in said row of second teeth; and aligning thelongitudinal centerlines of the teeth of one of said rows of saidplurality of first and second teeth with the longitudinal centerlines ofthe spaces formed between the teeth of the other of said rows.
 20. Themethod of claim 18, further including the step of: tapering the distalends of each one of the teeth of said pluralities of first and secondteeth.